PEKIN — Against his attorneys’ advice, Phouvone Sophanavong pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering his estranged wife after kidnapping her in Pekin last November and was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

“I’m responsible for what happened,” Sophanavong, 45, said as he accepted the plea agreement that he acknowledged will likely amount to a life sentence.

Sophanavong of Peoria will be required to serve every year of the term for killing Laongdao Phangthong, 28, whom he had threatened in a vow of murder-suicide weeks before he abducted her Nov. 4.

When Tazewell County Circuit Judge Michael Brandt asked if he was satisfied with the plea agreement’s terms, Sophanavong replied, “No, but I’ll still take it.”

“We were definitely prepared to take (the case) to trial,” defense attorney Mark Wertz told Brandt and repeated after the court hearing, which had been scheduled as a routine review of the case’s status.

However, Sophanavong instructed him and fellow defense attorney Julie Keller to take the plea agreement calling for the 55-year term, “and we’re respecting his wishes,” Wertz told Brandt.

Sophanavong never denied killing Phangthong, also of Peoria, after he forced her back into her vehicle as she arrived outside her Pekin job before dawn. She was shot twice in the chest.

During a nine-hour standoff with police at his home the next day, Sophanavong said he accidentally shot his wife when she tried to deploy a Taser during her abduction. He also left a note with that claim that police found under his bed after the standoff.

It ended when Sophanavong, who had told police he wanted to kill himself, agreed to surrender but then shot himself in the chest. He recovered from the wound and within two weeks was charged in court with multiple counts of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping.

The kidnapping charges were dismissed when Sophanavong pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree murder. His sentence includes 30 years and an additional 25-year “enhancement” because a firearm was used in the crime.

About a month before the murder, Phangthong had obtained an order of protection in Peoria County Circuit Court against the husband she had recently left. She said Sophanavong had shown her a handgun and threatened to kill her and himself unless she returned to him.

She also told co-workers at the electrical parts packaging plant where she worked that she feared Sophanavong, Roberts told Brandt.

One of those workers saw Sophanavong, who worked at another nearby plant in a business park on the city’s far south side, accost his wife after she arrived for work. The witness said he chased after the car as Sophanavong drove it away but lost it in the pre-dawn darkness.

Page 2 of 2 - Area police quickly alerted the media and public to look for the car. They learned by tracking cellphone signals later that day that the vehicle had traveled to the Manito area and into rural Mason County before the cellphones were turned off and the signals were lost.

Shortly before noon the next day the car was found parked on the first level of an OSF Saint Francis Medical Center parking lot several blocks from Sophanavong’s home. Phangthong was found dead inside.